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Experience Spotlight

On December 1, 2016, Parker Hannifin Corporation and CLARCOR Inc. announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Parker will acquire CLARCOR for approximately $4.3 billion in cash, including the assumption of net debt. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of each company. Upon closing of the transaction, expected to be completed by or during the first quarter of Parker’s fiscal year 2018, CLARCOR will be combined with Parker’s Filtration Group to form a leading and diverse global filtration business. Bass, Berry & Sims has served CLARCOR as primary corporate and securities counsel for 10 years and served as lead counsel on this transaction. Read more here.

Smaller Financial Institutions Seek Dodd-Frank Legislative Relief

September 17, 2014

In our recent American Banker article, we suggested that the Dodd-Frank Act and accompanying regulations are akin to use of a grenade to control garden undergrowth. On September 16, representatives of smaller banks and credit unions echoed our comments in a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs. During the hearing, those bank representatives requested relief from what they called "unnecessary requirements that do little to improve safety and soundness, but add significantly to the cost of providing [financial] services."1

The hearing marks an important educational step in reform efforts, providing the Senate Committee valuable information from both regulators and stakeholders in the community banking world. The hearing began with a panel of representatives from the FDIC, the OCC, the Federal Reserve, the NCUA and the Conference of Bank Supervisors, who gave insight into community banks and how they differ from larger "too-big-to-fail" banks in terms of client base, relationship focus and regulatory policy. The regulators described in detail several areas where they have attempted to use their current statutory authority to reduce the regulatory burdens for smaller financial institutions.

Most of the witnesses were positive about the health of the community banking system and the regulatory efforts to minimize Dodd-Frank-related burdens on community banks, but agreed that the current statutory structure imposes overly-burdensome compliance regulations on community banks. The witnesses' testimony reflected three common suggestions for how Congress should approach any potential reform. First, each repeated the familiar mantra that the burden on smaller financial institutions must be commensurate with the risk those institutions pose to the safety and soundness of the banking system as a whole. Second, the witnesses agreed that to meet the goal of commensurate burdens, flexibility should be encouraged in any future legislation so regulators can apply the legislation on a sliding scale, reducing the burdens on smaller financial institutions. Finally, many of the witnesses appeared to share the opinion that asset thresholds for defining a community bank should be raised so that more financial institutions may take advantage of moderately reduced regulatory burdens.

We will continue to monitor and provide updates on significant legislative, regulatory and policy developments related to the Dodd-Frank Act's regulatory burdens on smaller banks and credit unions.

1Testimony presented at the hearing by representatives of the FDIC, the OCC, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of Examination and Insurance of the National Credit Union Administration, the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions (on behalf of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors), the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Credit Union National Association, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Americans for Financial Reform, and the Center For Responsible Lending can be found here.

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